Friday, March 22, 2013

Arcadia Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

As I said yesterday, I was opening one of my bottles of Arcadia's Barrel Aged Imperial Stout and hoping it would be decent. Turns out it was better than decent though it wasn't so awesome that you should drop everything to go buy it. If you see it on the shelf, though, it's worth splurging for one bottle.
Tons of bourbon in the nose, very present. Started with some vanilla and oak notes but ended up with some harsh bourbon heat. I was hoping that the body didn't follow that last note and luckily it didn't since there is nothing I hate more than beers that are overwhelmed by that flavor. Decent mouthfeel, not super thick like Bourbon County but not too thin either. First sip was pretty complex, lots of vanilla, oak, and chocolate. Finish had some cherry and molasses. As I drank more and got used to the cherry, the molasses sweetness in the finish really came to the front and built on itself. I could use the term treacle again but it's so uncommon I'll avoid it for now. Pretty solid BA Imperial stout and not so sweet that the full glass was difficult to finish. Happy I picked it up. Hope the Barrel Aged Cereal Killer, their barleywine, is this solid since I have one of those too.

Heading up to Weyerbacher tomorrow for their release of Riserva. You'll be able to find it on shelves pretty easily but Jo and I haven't been up there in a while so it'll be a fun trip. I already made cookies for it too.

1 comment:

  1. I was planning on going to that Weyerbacher release too. Never actually been there before, and I'm actually curious about Zulu too... What time you heading over (let me know!)

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